Does it take a crisis to wake politicians up?

2020-04-24

A recent report by SSE-CERN network member Jon Fiva and Oda Nedregård presents data from debates in Norwegian parliament showing that preparation for crisis is not on the political agenda except for when the crisis actually arrives.

The report further shows that there seem to be lasting effects on the political debate after a crisis. The report highlights that voters do not seem to reward contingency planning, but only emergency handling. One important question then is: how can we ensure that sufficient effort is spent on thinking of possible crises that can happen instead of just focusing on those that already have happened? An op-ed based on the results appeared in the Norwegian press.